


Porcelain Friendships

by cosmic_ink



Series: Tag Along AU [1]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Humor, Gen, I know we don’t rlly stop anywhere in the game but let the kids rest man, I made some adjustment to that one clothing shop we passed by in LN2, Minor Violence, Mono is a hat dealer, No beta we die like the huntsman, Porcelain children getting their heads smashed, Six is grumpy and tired and just wants to sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29883654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_ink/pseuds/cosmic_ink
Summary: The three times Mono managed to catch sight of the strange pair and the one time they stayedAn AU where Mono and Six acquired a set of unexpected tag alongs on their journey
Relationships: Mono & Six & Original Character(s), Mono & Six (Little Nightmares), The Bullies & Mono (Little Nightmares)
Series: Tag Along AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197200
Comments: 42
Kudos: 114
Collections: The Gen Sub Hub





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So LN2 fucking destroyed me. 
> 
> Am still reeling at the ending and I just went well fuck that. This fandom needs some fluff to lighten shit up’ >:3

The very first time Mono saw them, he and Six had just stepped through into the very threshold of the school.

After crossing the corridor they climbed up into with a rope of knotted sheets, it happened inside one of the student's sleeping dorms. It was such a fleeting sight that he would've questioned it if it weren't for how things are now.

There, up on the highest bunk of a four decked bunk bed, was a small porcelain face peeking out over the ledge. One would've probably missed it if they weren't taking a closer look. If it weren't for the fact that half of their face was gone, Mono would've thought they were another human like him.

Mono looked over to Six to see her fiddling with some toys under the bunk on the far right, paying no heed to his little discovery. When Mono looked back, he was both pleased yet surprised to see the half-chipped face was still up there, quietly peering down at him with a lone hollow eye.

 _Perhaps they are one of the students at this school?_ Mono thought.

"Hey!" The soft whisper of his voice made the porcelain face flinched, though their stare remained transfixed on him from their vantage point.

Something tapped his foot, he looked down to see a ball rolling idly away from him. A clearing of the throat prompted the boy to glance up to see Six tilting her head at him, in her hands a lone building block as big as her chest. The unspoken question rang clear.

Mono in turn pointed up towards the bunk to try to show the porcelain face to his companion, but only found empty air in its place when he turned back. Where did they go?

He suppressed the shiver riddling up his spine and proceeded to pick up the ball and trudge forward onto the next room. This would definitely help knock the photo frame down!

* * *

The second time was shortly after they took Six.

He heaved the rickety locker up just enough for him to slip out. In his chest his heart sat racing, adrenaline and fear making his breathing ragged. No no NO! They took Six! _He—He had to GET HER BACK!_

Wasting no further time, he threw himself over the fallen locker, but stopped himself short. There lingering by the door was another one of those wretched students, bullies the lot of them. The porcelain kid was crouching by the doorway, keeping a lookout and thankfully have yet to notice him. A glance down made his fists clenched, there was a mallet on the ground.

It was with a mighty heave that the bully was no more.

Dragging the weapon behind him Mono made his way to the next room as quick as possible, finding it filled with a gargantuan heap of tables with bundles of books haphazardly piled atop each other. What made him pause wasn't the great pile before him however, but rather what was hiding under one of its many discarded desks.

It was another bully, peering at him from underneath the table pile. By the telling of the faded skirt they wore, they were a girl, or a doll that resembled one.

However, unlike the previous bully, this one did not immediately attack him on sight, but he couldn't be sure. Not after what happened to Six. He felt his fists tighten on his weapon and was about to stalk forward before something made him reconsider his advance.

The bully had placed a finger before her porcelain lips, it's message was clear.

_Shhh…_

Quietly, she crawled out from her hiding spot, making sure to keep her distance from Mono. With finger light steps, she made her way to the centre of the room.

It was then Mono caught sight of another bully in their midst, bending over something by the far corner. Upon closer inspection, it appeared….to be a frog. Mono grimaced when he noticed it’s exposed innards were splayed out all over the wooden floor. _Gross._

Movement brought Mono's attention back to the porcelain girl, who had now crept her way onto the centre of the room, crouching underneath another desk amongst the pile. Mono watched silently as she began waving her hand, her only hand so it seemed, as her other side appeared to be lacking one. In its place was a nub created by tying a knot on her shirt sleeve.

Her silent mining did not go unheeded to Mono however. _Stay back_ , as if she was to say.

Against all odds, Mono listened. And he was glad he did because not a second later the girl had promptly stepped onto a loose floorboard and sent a bucket of heavy books swinging down from the ceiling, smashing the other bully into bits.

With the boy in pieces, the girl trudged out from underneath the desk, going over to nudge the foot of the smashed bully as if to make sure they were not getting back up anytime soon. She then looked back at Mono who was unmoving at the other side of the room, before running away proper.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Mono then wordlessly continued his way onto the next room.

* * *

The third time was after he narrowly escaped the teacher in her private library.

He was walking down a corridor opening up to a massive stairway, assumed to be a lobby of some sort. A stray creak from above made him snap his paperbag clad head up towards the top of the stairs, in which his heart did a leap in his chest at what he saw.

Sitting with their legs swinging over the edge was the child with the chipped face, the one he spotted at the very beginning from traversing the school. Once the bully realized they had been discovered, their shoulders did a little hop and ceased swinging their legs.

Mono watched as they got up, dusted off particles from their skirt and walked to the centre of the stairway before settling there. Waiting.

Nerves were rolling off Mono's fingertips in waves, though he tried to keep a level head about the situation.

Again, he reasoned, this odd bully did not attack him upon seeing him. Which reminded him of the girl he met in the room with the heap of tables. Although he noted that the girl before had longer hair whereas this one looked as if theirs were hastily chopped off at a poor attempt at a haircut.

He ascended the steps halfway before stopping, eyes behind his bag carefully trained on the porcelain child's every move, wary that this was all some ruse to make him let his guard down. One thing Mono had learned so far, is that you can never be too careful.

The chipped faced bully tilted their head in question at his hesitance, before something seemed to click in their head as they appeared to ponder over something internally.

Mono watched with wonder as the bully slowly extended their hand towards him. They made no move to come forward, merely waiting at the top of the stairs a few feet away from where Mono had stopped.

Uncertain as a young fawn, Mono gradually closed the distance between them, watching the bully for any intention of catching him off guard. Tentatively, he extended his hand as well, before reaching out for the bully's hand.

Their pale hand was cold, Mono noted. Cold as what you'd describe smooth glass to feel like. Those pale porcelain digits gently closed around his own, and Mono could feel them regard him. He met their gaze back ten fold, but was shocked to find no malice in their eye.

Oddly enough, they seemed to display delight at Mono's acceptance to their gesture. A gesture of what, _peace_? Mono could only hope that was the case.

They let go of his hand and instead pointed to the walkway behind him, to which it led to a door with a giant chess piece placed in front of it.

A pitter patter of feet made him turn back to the odd bully, only to find them already making their way down the stairs. They spared him one last glance once they reached the bottom, before swiftly disappearing down the hallway.

Gears were turning in Mono’s head, replaying this strange encounter again and again in his mind. One thing’s for sure, he could count them to being somewhat of an ally, he supposed.

* * *

Their last meeting was after he managed to rescue Six.

The handle of the hammer he picked up had fallen limp in his hands as he silently watched Six singlehandedly tackle a lone bully on the sidelines. He couldn’t suppressed the flinch at the resounding crunch Six sent to the bully’s head as she smashed them into the floor.

The pipe was let down in favor of him quietly approaching Six, eyes warily trained on her as she moved to get up from straddling the now unmoving student.

A barely muffled creak of the floorboards stole his attention. His eyes widened at seeing both the strange bullies from before, the girl and the one with the chipped head, who were both standing close to each other on the other end of the room. Their stiff stances spoke well enough of how much they had seen from the Six’s little spectacle.

The bully with longer hair had her sole arm extended out before her chipped partner, who Mono noticed was carrying a small satchel on one shoulder.

Both pairs of children said nothing to one another, before the silence was broken with a low growl from Six.

Fearing the worst, Mono mirrored the porcelain girl’s stance and used his hand to prevent Six from pouncing on the two, not wanting a repeat of what had just transpired moments ago.

Six stopped short with a sharp grunt, giving Mono a sharp look which he could only describe as a cross between stupefied and anger.

He’d understand where her anger was coming from. All the time he used to find her, who knew what had occurred between her and the bullies who had taken her.

Mono has no doubt Six fought tooth and nail against her assailants, but even then the bullies had surpassed in numbers whereas Six did not. He wouldn’t blame her for holding bad blood against any of the schoolchildren they come across so far.

Back to the present, Mono gave Six a look. “It’s okay. Trust me...?”

Six only stared back, her bangs obscuring dark eyes which spoke with a calculating glint far too old for a child so little.

Mono relaxed when he got a short huff in return. “Thanks Six.”

He turned back to the two at the other end of the room. Even though they didn’t seem as shock ridden as before, they still preferred to keep their distance.

Mono smiled beneath his bag, a hand raised in greeting at the two.

The student with the chipped head perked up, sending a jittery wave back. Sensing that the tension had somewhat abated, the other raised her sole hand and greeted back. She then laced her hand with the other, taking slow steps to approach Mono and Six.

The pair stopped just an arm breath away from him, which was saying something, he’ll give them that. And then, one of them spoke.

“We.....come.....?”

Mono blinked a few times at hearing the hushed whisper, not expecting tangible words to meet his ears. They sounded airy, akin to a scuttling breeze on a cold night out.

“Want....Out....” rasped one of the two, probably the kid with longer hair, considering that she was staring at Mono head on. Her partner on the other hand was regarding both Mono and Six back and forth, as if assessing their reactions.

“Work....together....” She said as she pointed at herself and the other, then at Mono and Six. “Help....escape....”

“Please.....” She extended her hand towards him, the other doing the same to Six, who stared at it with mild distrust.

Mono shared a look with Six, seeing his friend’s lip pulled into a tight line. As if to say, _do we really gotta?_

Six got a nudged on the shoulder for that, and a reassuring squeeze to her hand. She huffed.

The four shook hands, and the pact was made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter updates might be spontaneous and irregular depending on my schedule
> 
> Anywho, hope y’all enjoyed my little scenario here! ;3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finds a place to rest for the night.

  
“She’s gone."

All four kids let out a collectively sigh at Mono's hushed affirmation, though only two can be heard doing so.

Mono reached under his paper bag to rub his face, trying to not think about how they managed to narrowly escape the Teacher's wrath. He swore his ears were still ringing from her grotesque screech echoing through the tight fit vents, the space itself barely enough for all of them to crawl into.

He tried not to think about how close the Teacher's breath had felt behind his back, how a single misstep would've spelled doomed for him and the rest of them should sh—

"Out....side....?" A faint rustling of plastic broke Mono out from his reverie, he turned and saw the long haired bully gathering herself up to look over the edge of the dumpster they had called into. She was soon joined by the other bully, both of them peering up at the weeping sky in silence. Her shoulders seemed to sag in awe.

“....Outside….”

A curt grunt brought all three of them over to Six's direction, who had already brought herself down from the dumpster into the pouring rain. Mono would've thought she looked unfazed by the heavy downpour, but the subtle shiver of her frame said otherwise.

"C'mon," he said aloud to the porcelain pair. "We have to keep moving."

* * *

They came across an abandoned building after carefully crossing over a deadly canyon broken up in the middle of the city. The door to the looming structure had a gnarly hole broken into it, allowing the children to slip through.

The gang found themselves in a tall room, it's walls stacked high with a multitude of boxes with clothing strewn around the floor. Most of the clothing were too big and tall to fit any of them. Rain was tinkering down from a hole in the ceiling, creating a puddle and soaking some unfortunate items. In the centre of the room however, laid the brightest piece of article amongst the boxes.

A yellow raincoat.

Before anyone could do anything, Six began meandering over to the piece of clothing. She then wordlessly picked up the apparel without giving it so much as a once over before putting it on.

Her eyes met Mono's underneath her new hood.

.....

She sneezed.

There was a muffled snort.

Mono turned around to find the short haired student tilting their face sideways to pour water out from their chipped head. Their shoulders were mirthfully shaking underneath their drenched uniform. _The rainwater must've been sloshing around in their head while they were running_ , Mono deduced.

Without thinking, he reached into his trench coat and pulled out one of his many hats. It was a yellow raincap, the one he picked up in the woods.

"Here, take this. It'll keep your head dry." He said as he proudly presented the item towards the porcelain child.

They seemed rather taken aback at his offering, even spent a few seconds just staring at the rubber item while tilting their head this way and that. In the end, the hat was taken from his hands.

Mono watched as they gingerly put the headdress on, as though it was their first time wearing something over their head. It had covered past Mono's eyes when he first wore it, and it wasn't much different for the student except the hat was sitting slightly slanted to the side of their cracked head.

The former bully adjusted the hat properly for them to still see out of their lone eye, giving a happy hop while meeting Mono's gaze. It was well received. _Score!_

The tell tale creak of an opening door made the pair whirled towards the other two in the room. They spotted Six boosting the other bully up by her legs to reach for the doorknob, allowing the slab of wood to swing open with little fanfare.

The four of them continued forward into the next room.

It appeared to be a tailor's shop. It had rows of outfits hung up on tall racks, though the apparels there had seen better days. Once vibrant colored fabrics were now musky and faded with time; never to be used, never to be worn. There was a cash register situated on a counter by the left, while a few dusty tailor mannequins littered about.

"We should stay here for a while." Mono spoke his mind. "Rest up before moving on."

Six seemed on board with the idea as she began stalking forward towards the rows of clothing around the shop, probably off to find something to sleep on. The racks were at least twice her height, but it didn’t stop her from scaling up the rack pole like a monkey.

The two former bullies approached the tall counter at the corner. The one armed girl was tilting her head forward to get any rainwater out through her sockets while the other settled by hopping onto the counter for a seat, placing their satchel flat on the dusty surface.

Mono took the time to take off his coat, shucking off the wet garment before hanging it up on a nearby rack to dry. As mind inducing their encounter with the School had been, he was secretly happy for one good thing to come out of that horrible place.

Two new additions to his and Six’s entourage.

Which reminded Mono, he had been referring to them with some rather mouthful names.

“Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten your names.” He mentioned, pulling both the dolls' attention onto him.

“I’m Mono.” He gestured to himself with a hand. “And my friend over there is Six.”

The mentioned friend of his was returning with a collection of oversized outfits dragging along behind her. She plopped her bounty into the middle of their makeshift circle, and slowly pulled out a random piece of clothing to lay out beneath her feet.

“What are your names?” Mono’s question garnered twin looks of confusion, the two sharing a look between themselves before the long haired child answered.

“Don’t....have names....” She rasped out, a somber shuffle to her stance. She moved towards the center pile, and began rummaging through the plethora of tailored articles. “Never given....not....needed....”

Her reply made Mono’s little heart clenched in silence. With his first (and hopeful the last) time coming across the school and its inhabitants, Mono would only describe the place as horrific and dreadful. A grotesque place filled with cruel porcelain dolls trying to pass off children and a monstrous being as the Teacher. The boy couldn’t bear spending another minute in there, not to say he’d ever returned to the place after all.

He couldn’t imagine living there as the only place you’ve ever known.

“How about...we come up with some?” The porcelain girl regard him with interest, while her partner tilted their head at his suggestion.

“You can choose one for yourselves! Or you can choose for each other.”

“Choose...?”

“Yeah! It can be anything you want.”

“....How….?”

“Well uh...” He fiddled thoughtfully at his bag. “Maybe something you like or what reminds people about yourself. Something that means…. _you_.”

The girl tapped her foot as she contemplated. After a moment she looked over to her partner, a long bundle of a shawl of sorts in her grasp. She stepped over to the counter, and leaned up to tap the other child just below their head crack.

“....Chip.”

“Ah.” Mono ignored the subtle snickering from Six, who was watching on her makeshift bed with interest. The short haired doll however, now dubbed Chip, seemed okay with their new moniker, playfully batting away her friend’s hand.

The girl in question easily dodge the half hearted swat in stride, hopping onto the counter next to Chip. She turned towards them, tilting her head expectedly. “My....name...?”

Chip took a moment ponder, before perking up and patted their friend’s feet. Mono only then realized the girl was actually lacking shoes, her porcelain toes had been peeking through worn knee socks.

“....Socks....” The girl answered for them. She unfurled the shawl and wrapped it around them both, resting her head on Chip’s giggling shoulders. “....Our names.”

“That’s great!” Mono had to stifle a snort himself. “We’re glad to have you along, Chip and Socks. Right, Six?”

He got a face full of a wooly sweater in reply, the article having tossed at him from Six’s position on the floor. She was already curled up on her makeshift bed, a nest of fabrics consisted of two oversized dresses. A hand heavily patting the ground spoke her thoughts of clearly wanting to sleep. But Mono knew her better, if her earlier gesture was anything to go by.

Six wanted _him_ to sleep too.

Mono chuckled at her antics, before settling down to do just that. “G’night everyone...”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mono: Hey kid, you want some hats?
> 
> Hat dealer Mono only accepts payment in the form of friendship and loyalty. Nothing more, nothing less :3c
> 
> And so the gang is born. There’s a few more things I’d like to explore with this au. Hope y’all are aboard the ride along with these gaggle of mismatched children ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. sketch dump! :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Series of doodles of mostly Chip and Socks, and a Mono :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some doods I did for this book, hope y’all like!

**An early ref for Chips and Socks**

  
**Some assorted sketches of the two**

  


**  
Mono as a hat dealer, here to give you a hat in these trying times ;3**

  
**Chip with their hat!**

**And here’s small scene from Chapter 2**

Hope y’all like ‘em! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y’all enjoy this au of mine. The gang will return in the second book, Glass Remedy 
> 
> .....Whenever I managed to finish the drafts that is *awkward laughs* QvQ
> 
> See y’all then!


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